Christian Appy and Dahlia Wasfi

Christian Appy is a history professor and author of two books on the Vietnam War. He tells the story of Wayne Smith, an African-American medic. Smith promised himself that he would never use the derogatory term “gook” for Vietnamese, but found himself using that term after he saw comrades die in combat. He still lives with guilt for having broken his promise.

Dahlia Wasfi was born in the US to an American-Jewish mother and an Iraqi-Muslim father. She lived in Iraq as a small child but returned to the US at age 5. She has made two trips to Iraq since the invasion. Wafsi supports immediate withdrawal of American forces and maintains a website, www.LiberateThis.com. Wafsi says the inspiration for her activism on Iraq was Rachel Corey, who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer when she tried to stop the demolition of a Palestinian house. Wafsi says anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice keeps many Americans from paying attention to the terrible toll of the war on Iraqis and to the ethnic cleansing waged against Palestinians.